From the beginning of the season, Chicago was a team to watch. This team had new young players mixed with more experienced players. www.ESPN.com even states that the Chicago Cubs were World Series favorites entering Spring Training this year. Before postseason the Cubs had an impressive record of 103 wins and only 58 losses.
In order to make it to the World Series, the Cubs had to win a few more important games. They first had to clinch their division title. In order to advance to the League Championship Series, the cubs had to beat the San Francisco Giants in the best of 5 games. The Cubs won the first two games, but lost the third game, which resulted in a fourth game. The Cubs won the fourth game of the series, 6-5, to advance to the League Championship Series.
Once the Cubs made it to the League Championship Series they had to play the L.A. Dodgers in the best of 7 series. The Cubs started the series with a 1-0 lead, only to lose the second game of the series to tie it up to 1-1. The Dodgers then took the next game, but the Cubs answered winning the next three games to advance to the World Series.
The quest for a new World Series Champion began on October 25, 2016. The Cubs had to win four games against the Cleveland Indians to be the champions. Cleveland took an early lead by winning the first game 6-0, but the Cubs came back to win the second game 5-1. Cleveland took the next two games to make the series 3-1, with Cleveland needing only more win to be the World Champions. However, the Cubs weren't done yet. The Cubs won the next two games, 3-2 and 9-3, to tie the series to 3-3.
Game 7 of the World Series was a game that will not be forgotten anytime soon. Anthony Riccobono with ibtimes.com stated, "An average of over 40 million people were tuned in to see the Cubs win their first World Series since 1908.Ten million more people watched Game 7 of the World Series than Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors. And according to SportsBusiness Daily, Game 7 outrated every night of the 2016 Rio Olympics."
Game 7 was a game full of emotion. Chicago scored first after a Dexter Fowler solo homerun in the first inning. The Indians struck in the 3rd by scoring their first run to up the game. The Cubs answered in the fourth by adding two more runs, making the game 3-1. During the fifth inning, both teams scored additional two runs making the score 5-3. The Cubs scored on a solo home run by David Ross in the top of the 6th making it 6-3. However, the Indians struck and tied the game in the 8th inning, by a double from Brandon Guyer that scored Jose Ramirez, After the double by Guyer, Rajai Davis hit a homerun that tied the game. Nothing happened with any time in the 9th, which forced extra innings. The extra inning of baseball was postponed by a rain delay. Once the rain delay was over, the 10th inning began. Ben Zobrist doubled, which scored Albert Almora Jr. and moved Anthony Rizzo to third. This put the Cubs up 7-6, but the Cubs weren't done. Miguel Montero singled to score Rizzo, making the score 8-6. The Cubs needed 3 outs to win the game. However, the Indians weren't going down without a fight. A single by Rajai Davis scored Brandon Guyer cutting the Cubs lead to one. Unfortunately, that was all the Indians could do. Michael Martinez ended the game with a soft groundout to Cubs third baseman, Kris Bryant, who threw the ball to his best friend, Anthony Rizzo for the last out of the game.
Game 7 was the perfect example of why baseball is the greatest sport. You have to give it your all until the very last out.
As I mentioned earlier, the Cubs had an impressive season. For the Cubs to win the World Series and break a curse of 108 years is emotional enough, but something else made it even more emotional and bittersweet for an important member of the Chicago Cubs. That member is David Ross. David Ross had decided that he would retire after this season. Ross, a 39-year-old catcher for the Chicago was quoted saying, "I would kick my own you-know-what if I came back after this. What a treat. I'm so lucky. "I'm not a history major, but that was pretty dang good." Talk about going out with a bang.
As baseball has come to end this season, it can only give hope to other teams who may have struggled like the Cubs have for the last 108 years. It will be interesting to see how the Cubs will perform next season, as they open their spring training season with a game against the Indians on February 26, 2017.
Until then, Fly the W proudly!
